Industrial Accidents

Having lots of miners among both my and my husband's ancestors it was no great surprise to find a few had perished in mining accidents.  Other occupations were equally hazardous. This is in memory of those whose struggle to earn a living cost them their lives.

To find out the cause of death you need to get the death certificate. All of those included in this post are from Scotland since it is inexpensive to get death certificates from the Scottish national records at scotlandspeople.gov.uk

Andrew McMeekin, uncle of my  husband, was killed by a fall of stone in Garallan Colliery in Cumnock in 1916. He was only 18. I found a report of his funeral in the Cumnock Chronicle, on microfilm in the Burns Centre, Kilmarnock. His brother kept this memoriam card.

2 generations further back, his namesake and great uncle, Andrew McMeekin, was killed in a mine accident in 1864 in Cumnock, also from a fall of stone. He was 26 and had a wife. Their infant daughter had died the previous month.

(This next para added 14 Dec 2013)
Robert Fleming my husband's great uncle was a mine roadsman and was still working at the age of 73 when he was killed by a runaway hutch in 1954. He lived in Ochiltree.

In 1959 2 distant cousins of mine, Aaron Price, 50, and his brother Robert Price, 47, of Kirkintilloch, were among the 47 miners who perished in the Auchengeich pit disater in Lanarkshire.

Blair Dunsmuir married to my second cousin Margaret Price of Ayr Road, Cumnock died of injuries sustained in Whitehill Colliery in 1927.

Andrew Rae, father-in-law of second cousin Ellen Yates, was injured in a fall of of coal in Lanemark no 1 in New Cumnock in 1873. His leg was amputated but he succumbed 9 days later.

Thomas Woods, a distant cousin via the Prices again, lost both his legs in an accident in Barony Colliery in 1930. He was caught in coal cutting machine. He at least survived.

Not only miners had a dangerous job. Harry Clark was a rivetter's heater in a shipyard in Aberdeen.  He fell 19 feet through an open hatch on deck and fractured his skull. He was 14 when he died in 1904. He was my granny's younger brother.

Farm work was not free of danger. Janet McCartney, 47, fell off a grass cart and broke her neck in Auchinleck one afternoon in August, 1867.  She was the mother of John Ross who married Agnes McMeekin, my husband's great grand aunt. 

A cousin of my husband, Andrew Cook Fleming, died when a tractor overturned on him in 1956. He was 15.

(This para added on 7 Nov. 2013)
Matthew Hislop, a wood sawyer, died instantly when caught in a sawing machine. He was 39 when he died in 1870 and left a wife and several children. In the 1881 census I found his wife in prison. I don't know what happened to her after that.  His nephew also Matthew Hislop was married to Augusta Wilson. It was his death I was looking for when I found the uncle's.

I haven't included those who died serving their country as they already have a post of their own.
The Scottish Mining website records mining accidents and will accept submissions. I have added the two Andrew McMeekins.  You can look up your ancestors here on the same site if you know the date of death.

We moan about health and safety regulations, but as a consequence the workplace is a lot safer nowadays.
 

The fallen

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
 In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
 In Flanders fields.

The author of this moving poem is  John McCrae who is a very distant relative of my husband (a McCrae married into the Wilsons.)

I looked through my extended tree to find those who fell in WW1. A lot of our ancestors were miners and stayed at home to keep the home fires burning so there are maybe not as many as in others' trees.

Aaron Dickens of Kirkintilloch died 7 Nov 1918 in France & Flanders. He was a private in the Highland Light Infantry.  A particulary sad case - just before the Armistice and only 21.

Alexander Shaw of Aberdeenshire a private in the Gordon Highlanders died of wounds on 26 Dec 1915 in France or Flanders aged 26.

William Rollie of Ayrshire died 27 Feb 1916 in France or Flanders. Only 18.

Tom Holmes of Featherstone, Yorkshire died 12 Apr 1917 in France or Flanders age 41.
Left a wife and 6 children.

Murdoch Ferguson of Skye died 5 Aug 1917 in France or Flanders aged 50. He was a corporal in the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and formerly in  the Lovat Scouts.

James Cook of Blackburn died 26 Sep 1917 in France or Flanders age 27.

William Mathieson of Ayrshire died 21 Mar 1918 in France or Flanders age 26.

Corporal Abraham Yates from Auchinleck, Royal Scots fell 19 Apr 1918 in France or Flanders aged 29.

Alfred Allan Walker of Aberdeen was killed in action on 14 Nov 1914 in France having served only 45 days. He was a corporal in the Gordon Highlanders and my great aunt Aggie's husband.  Their only son William Sievwright Walker died in the Second World War.

Richard Ewart Shearer my grandfather's younger brother was an engine fitter in the Royal Flying Corps and died of pneumonia in the military hospital in Ayr aged 19 on February 17th 1917.

Gone but not forgotten.

Lest we forget

In this armistice week it is appropriate to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Agnes Wilkie Clark my great aunt and a grandaughter of Colin Sievwright lost her husband Alfred Allan Walker aged 33 on 14 November 1914 in France. He had served only 45 days. I found his service record online. It was, not surprisingly, rather short. He was a corporal in the Gordon Highlanders, had grey eyes and black hair. He was a marine engineer.

Their only son William Sievwright Walker who was 11 when his father died, also died as a result of "enemy action" on 9 November 1940. He was second engineer on the MV Shelbrit 2 when it was bombed. The ship survived. I think it must have happened in harbour at Portslade, Sussex. He was 37.

My great uncle Richard Ewart Shearer died of pneumonia in Ayr Military Hospital in 1917 while serving as an apprentice engine fitter with the Royal Flying Corps. He was only 19. He is remembered on war memorials in Ayr, Hightae and Lockerbie. I do wonder though, why they were working on planes in Ayr. It's not exactly convenient for crossing the Channel.